The Golden State Warriors once again collapsed down the stretch on Wednesday and lost 91-90 to the Houston Rockets in the NBA Cup quarterfinals at Toyota Center. The Warriors blew a six-point lead in the last 90 seconds to lose to the Rockets and Stephen Curry admitted postgame that unless they fix this problem, they’ll be a mediocre team.
“It’s a team trying to figure out who you are, what works, what sets we need to be in,” Curry said. “…. The pattern of scoreless kind of droughts down the stretch has to be addressed or else we’re gonna be a mediocre team. I’ll take responsibility for not being able to get us organized and not being able to finish plays.
“Ball’s in my hands. I got to make shots,” Curry continued. “But I think we all can address certain sets that can get us into better shot-creation type opportunities, knowing how teams are trying to guard us, especially in the last five minutes.”
“We’re talking about it,” Curry added. “We’re experimenting. That’s going to be a defining point of our full season, if we figure it out or we don’t because we’re playing well enough to win most games. So, that’s a good sign and a bad sign.”
Well, this loss to the Rockets dropped the Warriors to 14-10 on the season and they are playing like a mediocre team at the moment. As Curry, who had 19 points, three rebounds, five assists, two steals, and a block on the night, stated, if they don’t figure out how to close games better, this is going to be another disappointing season.
Against the Rockets, the Warriors self-destructed in spectacular fashion. They did not score a point in the final three minutes of the contest and had two shot clock violations in that time. Their offense was out of sync down the stretch and that’s starting to become a common occurrence at this point.
In their win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday, the Warriors blew an 11-point fourth-quarter lead in a matter of minutes. They managed to regroup and eventually win 114-106 but that’s not something they’ve managed to do all that often this season.
Against the Denver Nuggets on Dec. 3, the Warriors scored just two points in the final four minutes to lose 119-115. Going back a bit further, they completely collapsed in the fourth quarter against the San Antonio Spurs on Nov. 23. The Warriors lost that quarter 33-13 to lose the game 104-94.
Following this game against the Rockets, the Warriors have now suffered defeat in seven of their last 10 clutch games. This is a team that just crumbles in the big moments and they need to address this problem in a hurry.
The Warriors will be taking on the Dallas Mavericks at Chase Center next on Sunday at 8:30 PM ET and they could learn a thing or two from their opponents on how to close out games. The Mavericks have won five of their last six clutch games and if this clash goes down to the wire, you know which team to back to get over the line.
